Static - Jazzing up the AM dial

When you unleash a new radio station on a city, the rule of
thumb is to do it with a bang. That's why newcomers go for weeks
without airing a commercial, as San Diego's B 94.9 did a few weeks
ago. Some stations will even play the same song hundreds of times
in a row.

But one new local station isn't playing by the rules. In fact,
six months after the Mexico-based X-Jazz hit the airwaves, hardly
anyone even knows it exists.

But X-Jazz is indeed there at the far left edge of the AM dial,
playing jazz songs by artists like Brandon Marsalis and Miles
Davis. Gone are the station's former call letters, X-Bach, and its
former format, classical music.

Program director Lawrence Tanter said station executives are
simply working the bugs out before attracting listeners. "The main
thing is to define our identity: real jazz right now," he said.

But even if jazz undergoes a rebirth thanks to the Ken Burns
documentary series airing this month on KPBS, X-Jazz has plenty of
challenges to overcome to become a success.

For one thing, for-profit jazz stations have a very difficult
time making money. With the exception of the hugely successful
"smooth jazz" format found on stations like San Diego's KIFM, jazz
can be the kiss of death to a station's bottom line. In fact, only
two other for-profit traditional jazz stations exist in the United
States, in Cincinnati and Chicago, Tanter said.

X-Jazz's position at 540 on the AM dial won't help things.
Static-prone AM frequencies have always been a terrible medium for
music. In my 1995 car, for example, the AM signal wigs out whenever
I turn on the air vents. (There is such a thing as AM stereo, but
it's a lot like the Tooth Fairy, George W. Bush's intelligence and
a fair solution to California's energy crisis -- nobody really
believes in it.)

Finally, X-Jazz will have to try to sound local when it's really
simulcasting the signal of sister station K-Jazz (1260 AM) in Los
Angeles. "We look at it as one radio station along the Southern
California corridor," Tanter said.

Tanter said the challenges don't worry him. He thinks there is
room for a jazz station that's not geared at purists (like San
Diego's classy, nonprofit KSDS) or aimed at a general audience
(like KIFM).

Unlike the traditional-minded KSDS, X-Jazz's record collection
doesn't go much earlier than the 1950s, and much of the music is
new. Its playlist includes artists as varied as Chet Baker, Abbey
Lincoln, Sheila E and Terrence Blanchard.

You won't hear deep detail, like who plays bass and drums on a
piece.

"We're not trying to be those elitist jazz disc jockeys who
think you've got to be hipper-than-thou to be part of the jazz
community," Tanter said. "Our presentation is as commercial as any
other. You don't have to have a degree from the Berkley School of
Music to enjoy the station."

That kind of approach -- a commercial approach to a commercial
station -- may be the ticket to success.